Improvement in balmoral shoes



T. J. GREENWOOD.

Balmoral Shoe.

No. 200,282. Patented Feb. 12; 1878.

WITNESSES! INVENTOR: vwwa M I N PETERSv PHOTDLlTHOGRAPflER, WASHINGTON, D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS J. GREENWOOD, OF WARREN, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT lN BALMORAL SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 200.282, dated February 12, 1878; application filed December 11, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS J. GREEN- WOOD, of Warren, in the county of Jo Daviess and State of Illinois, have invented certain Improvements in Balmoral Shoes, of which the following is a specification:

This invention relates primarily to the manner of constructing the tops of balmoral and similar shoes; and it consists in giving shape to that part in manner following.

The accompanying drawing, forming apart of this specification, shows at Figure 1 a side elevation of a shoe constructed after my invention. Fig. 2 shows part of the quarter with the gusset stitched thereto in the flat, or as near the flat as the parts will lie after being united; and the other figures show the manner of cutting the gusset and that part of the quarter in which it is inserted.

Like letters indicate like parts wherever employed in the several figures.

Referring to said drawing, A represents the quarter, which is divided upon the side of the shoe given in the drawing to form the usual opening for lacing. The opposite side of the shoe, however, is of one piece with the quarter shown, and is whole, with the exception of the slit or slits made for the gusset or gussets, as hereinafter specified.

At the front of the top of the two quarters the blank from which they are formed is required by my invention to be slit down the central line a a short distance, and then by two diverging lines, b b,a further distance. This leaves in the center of the slit-a tongue, 0. No stock is cut out, or next to none.

A gusset, D, for insertion in this opening, is prepared after the pattern shown in Fig. 4, or after any desired form, it only being necessary, to make it embody my invention, that it be slit from the lower edge upward, as at d,

and that it be united to the quarter in the sprung condition below described.

To make this effect clear, let it be remembered that the object in view is to produce an expanding outline of the upper part of the shoe to fit the leg of the wearer. If apiece of leather is folded, the folded edge will, of course, be straight. If, now, an oblique out be made, so as to remove a triangular piece from the folded edge, and a similar triangular piece or tongue be inserted and stitched in to fill said out, the edge will still be straight when folded. But if the first piece be merely slit, or the removed piece be smaller than the tongue, so that the former will be spread apart to meet the edge of the tongue, then it can no longer 'be folded on a straight line, but upon a bent line, and thereby the object sought will be accomplished.

The quarters and gusset being thus patterned, the former are spread apart and the tongue exposed, as shown in Fig. 2, and the gusset, also sprung at the slit, as shown in said figure, is then united to the quarters by stitch-- ing. The result of this union of the sprung quarters and the sprung gusset is the desired curvature in that part of the shoe where the gusset is inserted.

The same construction may also be used in the back, and indeed in both front and back, if desired; and I have shownin the drawing a shoe of the latter description.

I claim- A shoe-upper provided with a forked slit, combined with a gusset, also slit, and spread to embrace the tongue formed by said forked slit, as and for the purpose set forth.

THOMAS J. GREENWOOD.

Witnesses:

EDWARD S. EVARTS, Form B. SMITH. 

